Using martinelli's for cider

[Brasco20]

I know this should be in the cider section but im used to talking to the guys in this section, and it seems to get more traffic. I brewed my first cider a few months using motts apple juice, it was good but didnt have a very strong apple taste. Im wondering if using the expensive martinelli's is worth it. Its the best apple juice i have ever had. Would i be wasting my money, or would this make for a great cider?

Thanks for any replies

 

[Brasco20]

P.S. I used nottingham

 

[shawnbou]

I haven't made a cider before, but I am going to make my first soon. So take this response with a grain of salt ... but if it helps you, great.

No matter what kind of beverage you're making, I think the general rule of thumb is: quality in, quality out. If you start with ingredients you like the taste of, you're probably going to like the finished product more.

If I add adjuncts to my beer, I try to use the best stuff I can find. And when I make mead, I use natural honey from a local supplier instead of the stuff from Costco, and if I add fruit to mead I use 100% pure juice or real fruit (organic when possible, but that's just a personal preference). In other words, if I wouldn't eat it or drink it, I won't add it to my brew.

For my upcoming cider, I bought a couple of gallons of organic unfiltered 100% apple juice. I don't know if that was absolutely necessary, but I don't really like the taste of your typical grocery store Lucky-Leaf-type apple juice, so I don't want to drink it fermented.

In your case, if you can afford it and like the taste of Martinelli's, I'd say go for it. I don't know about Mott's, but I know a lot of those grocery store juices have added sugar - which I assume would ferment out drier, with less apple taste - and even preservatives, which might cause attenuation problems. So it wouldn't surprise me that your results with it were not what you expected.

In the cider forum, there's also a great sticky with info on results with different yeasts, sugars, etc. I'd check that out too, if you haven't already ... you might get more tips on what went wrong with your first batch.

 

[frankstoneline]

I've now experimented with several ciders, and the layout has gone as such: 2 5 gallon batches from apples my roommate and I picked, pressed and fermented with no additives , one batch made from knudson's organic apple juice, one batch made using 4 gallons of the same organic fresh juice and 3 pounds light DME both done with an ale yeast (wyeast something, I think maybe american ale?) and my roommate just repitched bottled a cider made from frozen juices re-constituted and pitched onto one of the wyeast cakes. My thoughts on these: the most "apple" taste came from one of the fresh pressed batches that was pressed from a mix of various red and green apples, as well as various apple varieties that I would call sort of "pink". It seems that most apple juices you buy in the store have a lighter color and have a much more mellow taste when tasted unfermented to lend themselves to more pleasureable consumption. they arent pressed for making cider or modifying, they are pressed for drinking right out of the bottle. The cider that lent itself to a delicious crisp apple heavy taste was fairly bitter and quite sharp before being fermented.
That was a lengthy presentation of various experiences to basically explain this: I would suggest finding some way to press maybe a gallon of juice from a rather tart, very flavorful apple to add in with organic juice you purchase and see how that works. Alternatively, wait until fall, find someone with a bunch of different apple trees, pick about 120 pounds of apples, and press them to make some cider.